“It was just another Mamba moment to add to the collection,” said Lakers rookie guard D’Angelo Russell (via ESPN.com). “There should be a museum of just Mamba moments.”
MORE: Kobe’s retirement tour, the highlights | Classic shots of Kobe
“Some of the shots, it’s just like, ‘How do you make it?’” Lakers forward Julius Randle added. “Pretty unbelievable, but when you’re in the game and you’re battling, it’s kind of hard to tell, but you know he’s doing something special.”
If there was one person unimpressed, it was T-wolves coach Sam Mitchell, who has a bit of a history with Bryant, 37. It was Mitchell’s Raptors team against whom Bryant dropped 81 points back in 2006, the second-highest single-game scoring effort in NBA history, behind only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point night.
“I hate him,” Mitchell said Tuesday night. “If I don’t ever see him again, it will be too soon. I hate him.”
When Mitchell’s comments were relayed to him, Bryant laughed.
“Well, thank you for the hate, I appreciate that,” Bryant said. “Truly, I love that.”
But Bryant himself downplayed his night and even bristled at the surprise surrounding it.
“You’ve seen it for 20 damn years,” he said. “What are you impressed by?
“It’s like, tonight I made shots I was supposed to make. I made open looks and I made them. Then when that happens, you tend to get in a rhythm. You start making a little more difficult shots.”
Still, it was a turn-back-the-clock performance in what has become a slog of a final season for the Lakers, the kind of night he has approached only a handful of times this season.
With 31 games to go in his 20th and final season, Bryant can’t expect many more like this one. Yet even his coach remains hopeful.
“I appreciate the fact that for two more months, I get a chance to see this,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said.
